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01/05/2024 04:42 PMAt the Jan. 3 Town Council meeting, the council appointed itself as the search committee to find the next town manager. The council also announced it has hired a consulting firm to assist with the search.
Just as Clinton residents were getting ready to celebrate the end of the year, some surprising news came out of Town Hall: Town Manager Karl Kilduff announced he had resigned and would be starting a new job in Weston in February. His last day in Clinton will be Feb. 19.
At the Town Council meeting on Jan. 3, the first regularly scheduled meeting since Kilduff announced his decision, the council made two moves to get the ball rolling on finding his replacement.
First, the council members unanimously voted to name themselves the search committee to find the next town manager. The motion was made by council member Chris Aniskovich, who reasoned that since the council members would be the ones dealing most directly with a new town manager, it made sense that they would be the ones working on the search.
When the town previously appointed a town manager search committee in 2019, it was comprised of six volunteers from the community along with a member of the Board of Selectmen. However, that committee had almost a full year to make its decision, but Aniskovich pointed out that the council does not want to take that long to make its decision on the next manager.
Town Council Chairperson Carrie Allen pointed out after the meeting that she, along with council members Dennis Donovan and Hank Teskey, had all served on the 2019 town manager search committee, so there was experience on the council with the town manager search process.
In response to a question from fellow council member Brian Roccapriore, Aniskovich said that he anticipated the public would have a chance to at least meet the final candidates for the town manager positions at some point. In 2019, the town hosted an open house event for the final three candidates so citizens could meet them and ask questions.
Search Firm Hired
The second move the council made to help with the search came after the council went into a 40-minute executive session later in the meeting. After exiting the executive session, the council announced it had hired Randi Frank Consulting LLC to assist with the search.
Kilduff said the service cost is $15,000, though it could be higher due to travel costs, advertising, and background checks.
“A typical total cost inclusive of all expenses would be $22,000,” Kilduff said.
In 2019, the town paid $32,000 to hire Strategic Government Resources to assist with the first town manager search.
Allen touted the experience Randi Frank Consulting has working in Connecticut and said it was one of the firms the town manager search committee considered using in 2019. Allen also said that Kilduff has had good experience working with them before.
Kilduff estimated it may take a little while for the town to complete the search for his replacement.
“The engagement to find a candidate could take 120 days. Contract negotiations with a successful town manager candidate would potentially require additional time beyond the window to select a finalist. It is possible that the recruitment window could be reduced, but that is a function of the availability of stakeholders to the recruiter during the budget season,” Kilduff said.
After the meeting, Allen told the Harbor News that “it’s probably not realistic” to have the new town manager in place by the time Kilduff leaves next month and that the Town Council will likely look to appoint an interim manager.
In 2019, one of the first actions the newly formed Town Council took was to appoint former Public Works Director Peter Neff as the interim Town Manager for a term not to exceed 180 days. Neff ended up serving as the interim Town Manager for about one month before Kilduff came aboard in January 2020.